A group of mates who formed a touch football team branded the ‘Average Joes’, have kicked off the 2017/18 season with high hopes of taking out their fifth consecutive Gerringong Touch Association premiership.
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“We have not lost a grand final in the A grade senior competition since we entered, which still astounds me, as there are so many quality teams in the competition,” player Blair Overton said.
“The finals occur sometime in February and we hope to make it to and win it again this year. That would make it five in a row which I think is pretty special.”
The team was formed during the 2012/2013 touch season, which runs from November to February each year.
Many of the original members are still playing today, however the team has altered over the time for various reasons.
“When people have had to leave we had to scramble to recruit new players to fill the positions left vacant,” Overton said.
“We lost our captain Kal Collins last year due to commitments at the Dragons Rugby League in Wollongong and managed to recruit Steve Evans into the team to replace him.
“Steve ended up going on to be top try scorer in the entire competition, which led him to be voted Most Valuable Player for the 2016/17 season, so we did really well by securing him.”
Collins has returned to the side this year, now his commitments with the Dragons have finished.
“Another one of our players, Michael Brown, was also named Most Valuable Player of the competition back in the 2015/16 season, the year prior to Steve winning the award,” Overton said.
“Having these kinds of players in our side has always given us confidence to win games.
“We never expected to remain as the exact same team each year, so we knew filling spaces was going to happen at some point, but it’s good to know many of the original team are still playing together.”
The name Average Joes, came about after it was suggested the players had little idea what they were doing on the field.
“When we were still in the early stages, talking about putting in a team for the 2012/13 season, our captain Kal Collins said ‘we’re going to be just a bunch of average Joes running around not knowing what we’re doing out there’,” Overton said.
“The name just stuck from there.”
Overton said the team’s morale was always high; a reason for their ongoing success.
“Everyone in the team always enters and leaves the grounds each week with a smile on their face, including me,” he said.
“Everyone in our team are friends, we have fun each week and were always laughing before, during and after games.
“I do love winning though I can’t deny that. Everyone’s competitive nature comes out on the field, but we always play within the spirit of the game.”
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